Rescue Cat
by Stephen Savage; illus. by the author
Primary    Roaring Brook    32 pp.
7/24    9781626721548    $18.99

An orange cat once wandered the streets, lost and alone. When she hears a bell, sees a dangling feather toy, and is thus invited into a child’s home, she becomes “a rescue cat.” Butterscotch watches TV with her young rescuer in a cozy living room. One day, the TV screen shows a crocodile swimming ominously toward a lion cub who is much too close to the water’s edge. “At first, Butterscotch ran and hid. But then she remembered…She was a rescue cat!” With a fierce look on her face, Butterscotch leaps through the screen into the jungle. “She inched closer and closer and closer still.” And then she roars (or perhaps mews). When the crocodile roars back, the chase begins. The familiar bell and feather toy show Butterscotch the way home; she leaps out of the TV screen, leading the lion cub to the living room’s safety. Using Illustrator and Photoshop, Savage creates simple, bold cartoons; an uncluttered room is made soft and inviting by overlaying a dappled effect. In the scenes set among the wild animals, pictures are denser, adding to the drama. The story ends happily when the cub jumps back through the TV and is reunited with the lion family. The simple text blends seamlessly with the illustrations, creating an adventurous story of one brave little cat.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.